The gaming community has uncovered an intriguing development involving Electronic Arts (EA) and its treatment of competitor titles. Players discovered that typing Arc Raiders - the highly anticipated extraction shooter from Embark Studios - in EA's PC app chat results in automatic censorship, with hashtags replacing each letter of the game's title.

This discovery comes during a particularly competitive period for online extraction shooters. The genre has faced scrutiny following Bungie's controversial Marathon reveal earlier this year. However, Arc Raiders has managed to generate significant excitement ahead of its October 30 release, standing out with its stylish third-person sci-fi gameplay.

The censorship issue was brought to light by Reddit user WifiRouterYT, who shared a video demonstration on the Arc Raiders subreddit. Interestingly, the censorship appears specific to Arc Raiders, as typing other competitor titles like Fortnite, Call of Duty, or Escape from Tarkov doesn't trigger the same filtering mechanism.

The situation becomes more intriguing when considering the connection between EA and Embark Studios. Founded in 2018 by former DICE CEO Patrick Soderlund, Embark has reportedly recruited several ex-DICE developers. This history might explain the apparent tension, though curiously, mentions of Embark's other title The Finals aren't censored in EA's app.

With both Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 targeting October releases, industry observers speculate that EA might be attempting to minimize attention on its competitor. Battlefield 6 represents a major investment for EA following the disappointing launch of Battlefield 2042, with the company reportedly aiming for 100 million players eventually.

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